Today, notions of historic and collective memories are known to be highly problematic: They often function as cultural tools at the service of power institutions, imposing dominant narratives and eliminating individual differences and agency. Nonetheless, they remain key to processes of self-identification and solidarity both at the individual and community levels. Scholars, artists, activists, and individuals from diverse fields strive to develop frameworks that recognize the relevance of these processes while also acknowledging their complexities, risks, and limitations. Contemporary processes of remembering and constructing the self demand new approaches that allow for a better understanding of the weave of narratives and actors in constant interaction involved in them. It is in this context that relational art can serve as a device through which individuals and groups can explore, contest, and reimagine their relationship to knowledge(s), the world, and themselves.
Read the full text here.